Yesterday the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted not to elect a single player to the baseball Hall of Fame for only the second time in four decades. You know that by now. What you probably don’t know is that I for one am thrilled.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely players that were on the ballot yesterday that I’d enshrine in Cooperstown if it were up to me. Craig Biggio is one. Curt Schilling as another (surprise surprise). And yes, I’m solidly in the Dale Murphy should be in the Hall camp. If anything, this year’s ballot was filled with players that in my opinion are right on the brink of being good enough to get in. That said, there’s no doubt that the ballot was also filled with a number of players whose statistics would make them automatic first ballot Hall of Famers – and none of them came even close to getting voted in. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, justice was served.
So hear me out. First off, I know that “justice is served” is a bit of an odd statement when the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens haven’t technically been found guilty of steroid or PED use. This is America, innocent until proven guilty, right? While that’s true, I thought Curt Schilling made a fantastic point yesterday when he said, “I think, with a few exceptions, nobody knows [who used performance-enhancing drugs], so the whole lot of us are lumped in together. Nobody knows. We didn’t do anything about it. At the end of the day, we didn’t do anything about it. We knew about it. I think we all had an idea, a really strong suspicion, but we didn’t do anything about it. And we sat by, and we turned a blind eye, and I think this is one of the prices that we ended up paying.”
Everybody has their own opinions on who “used” and who didn’t, and in my opinion Schilling is one of the players who absolutely belongs in the Hall, didn’t use PEDs, and is not in the Hall because of the actions of his contemporaries who did use. But my point is not to convince you who used or who didn’t, who should be in or should be out. My point is that Schilling is right in his assertion that even the players who didn’t use are guilty to some extent by association – they didn’t step up, identify an issue within the game they love, and work to get it resolved. Now they are paying the consequences.
As for the growing camp of sports writers and fans whose general assertion is, “everybody did it, the best players of this generation deserve to be in the Hall,” well, I for one am disgusted by this point of view. Anyone who holds this perspective A) doesn’t love the game of baseball and B) is buying into some seriously flawed logic. Playing Major League Baseball is a privilege, not a right, and upholding the integrity of the game is part of that privilege. Because of the actions of a series of cheaters, an entire generation of baseball fans, my generation, does not have the heroes of the game that past generations had. There’s widespread disenchantment, and certainly a whole lot of bitterness. Yet you want to put these guys in the Hall of Fame and celebrate them, simply because “everyone was doing it?” Are you kidding me?
Let’s draw a parallel. I’m pretty sure the guys over at Enron broke the rules en route to running a fantastically successful business. Should we celebrate them as amazing business leaders? Not to mention enshrining them in a Hall where “character” is one of the defining criteria on which admission is granted. The guys over at Enron cheated, and their business would not have been as successful if they hadn’t. Even worse, they were far from the only business people making gains by sketchy means. So why should we celebrate any steroid user if we’re not going to celebrate the brilliance that went on over there at Enron?
The sad part is we all know that a Barry Bonds or a Roger Clemens type player never needed PEDs to get into the Hall. Any steroid user was greedy, selfish, and spat in the face of the game. And it’s worth mentioning that they all made millions of dollars more as a result of taking steroids. For all of their bitching and moaning about being locked out of the Hall, how many of those guys would give up their millions for a spot in Cooperstown? Don’t kid yourself – not a single one. These guys are babies that want it all and deserve nothing.
It’s deeply, deeply unfortunate that this will undoubtedly affect many players who did play the game the right way throughout their careers. It’s ridiculous that basically any barrel chested or stocky player, in particular, will have a much harder time ever getting elected. There’s two guys in particular who I’ll have my eyes on in upcoming years – Ken Griffey Jr and Greg Maddux (who I was happy to see Curt Schilling identified yesterday as the best pitcher in baseball history). I consider these guys to be the best pitcher and the best position player of my generation, yet both never went through any sort of body transformation nor were linked to steroids in any way. If these guys have trouble getting into the Hall on their first ballot, we’ll really know the extent to which PED users screwed over their peers who played the game the right way.
So while so many criticize the Baseball Writers’ of America, I for one applaud them for standing up for game.
I understand what you and Schilling are saying but I think it unrealistic to expect players to dime out their teammates. I also think its a little unfair for them to have to stand up when baseball did not give a shit, it wasnt illegal and they didnt test. and the writers who are now so named themselves knights of integrity of baseball turned the blind eye and didnt write articles about it until well after the fact.
Jonah Keri on Grantland made some good points, cheating has always been in baseball. He names Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Mike Schmidt as players who took amphetamines but you dont seem anyone lining up to take them out of the hall. Steroids have been around since the 70′s, who knows who was taking what and when. It seems a little off that because baseball finally started taking it seriously during this generation, that they get punished.
writers who have now named themselves*
Look at what steroids did to the record books – that can never be undone. Sure cheating in various forms has been around forever, and yes there was a time when steroids were not banned in baseball. But for far too long they were banned, players ignored it, and the game was hurt as a result. I’m not suggesting the guys who were clean are primarily to blame – far from it – the players who cheated and the Commissioner of Baseball shoulder the blunt of the blame in my book. But if the by-product is that some guys who were clean don’t make it to the Hall? Well, yes that’s partially their own fault.
Only one real record was broken and the record holder went to court and was innocent. If a judge can’t convict, how come these sports writers are so sure?
I also think it is a bit irresponsible to say well if records break then there is obviously cheating. People today are bigger an stronger, they are playing with different balls, training and film have improved by a huge amounts.
Drew Bree’s broke Marino’s passing yards record last year, Calvin Johnson broke the receiving yards record this year. Following that logic we shouldn’t vote any nfl players into the hall of fame during this generation.
Football is policed very well. Baseball is not. People are bigger and stronger, but there’s plenty of highly suspicious evidence against guys like Bonds and plenty of players who have already admitted to use. I don’t think anyone is so sure, but given the evidence I can see why they aren’t jumping to bestow upon Bonds or Clemens baseball’s highest honor. Regardless of who uses and who didn’t, the guys that didn’t tainted the game (and likely entry into the Hall) for many.
That evidence was not enough for US judges, it shouldn’t be enough for a stupid museum about a game.
As I said, the point of the article is not who is guilty and who is not. It’s that a lot of people let the steroid happen and did nothing to stop it, and now they are paying the price in not being elected to the Hall. There’s going to be a lot of complaining about that, but it’s a reality because of the inaction of many.